I Don't Belong
by HisGuardianAngel
Summary: Sequel to He's The Air She Would Kill To Breathe. Scarlett is having a hard time adjusting to life with Klaus, and her behavior is spiraling into destruction. Meanwhile, Damon is trying his hardest to keep his love life with Elena as romantic as possible while juggling three kids, especially helping Ian as he struggles with his transition and his new found love for a human girl.
1. Starting Over

I Don't belong

By: Britney Alaine E. (casbuttsalvatore)

A delena story in association with It will always be Damon & He's the air she would kill to breathe

Chapter one: starting over

Life with Klaus had just gotten settled for Scarlett. While she was attending school, Klaus had set her up a room in Mikaelson Manor close to his and Caroline's and painted it her favorite color down to the precise shade, Venetian Red. He filled a bookshelf with all her favorites, which were classics such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Romeo & Juliet, and he'd bought her three whole cases of music ranging from Ed Sheeran to Artist Vs Poet. There was a large black heart statue that appeared to be dripping blood in a corner of the room and a black lace nightstand in the other that adorned a picture of her snuggling with him and Stefan on the couch once when she was little. He'd filled her closet with 50 pairs of converse in various different colors, 20 sets of heels for formal occasions, 75 casual day dresses, 67 evening gowns, 80 different colors and cuts of skinny jeans and over 100 blouses. Her closet was just as immense as Caroline's, and as Klaus stood back and admired his work he was sure she'd love it.

Klaus had let Scarlett lay out for a bit due to her recent birthday and today was her first day back at school, which had given Klaus the opportunity to do all of this. He had decided long ago that Scarlett was his daughter, and his daughter was going to have nothing but the best if it killed him. Being able to work at vampire speed, Klaus had accomplished all of this by lunch time and was now feverishly working on filling the manor with her favorite snack foods. Even though Scarlett drank blood, both she and Caroline seemed rather fond of Little Debbie Cakes and such, and they were running far too low on those items at the moment to appropriately meet a teenage girls needs.

While Klaus was playing house, Scarlett was proudly eating lunch at the popular table, as she always did. Scarlett was the most popular girl at Mystic High, much like Elena had been in her day before becoming pregnant with Ian. Her golden brown curls were tied up in a ponytail with a maroon colored silk ribbon that matched the the dress she was wearing, which was made of Chiffon and had been a birthday present from Damon. As head cheerleader, she had every boy on the football team at her beck and call, and all of them were currently crowded around her and her friends at their table, attempting to win a date from one of them. This annoyed Ian, who was the only boy allowed at the popular table, and who really didn't like anyone over there apart from his cousin. Maybe tomorrow he'd go sit with that shy little blonde girl at the reject table that absolutely no one talked too, that is, if Scarlett would allow it. Scarlett, as much as Ian loved her, was neurotic and shallow, much like Caroline, which Ian blamed on the fact that both his father and Klaus had never said no to her in their lives. He brushed his long raven hair from his eyes and forced a smile at Scarlett's best friend, Penelope, who was yet again trying to get his attention with her annoying love letters that seemed to get longer and more dramatic by the day. All Ian did was look at the first line "I'm in love love with you" and then fold it and place it in his jacket. He shot her his best impression of his father's "smolder eyes" as he'd heard Elena call it, and smirked.

"Thanks, babe." It worked, she was reduced to a speechless mess and Scarlett was suddenly overly aware of his existence.

"Ian, you're escorting Penelope to the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant this year okay? Since you seem to be flirting with her." Penelope, who was toying with her shoulder length brunette hair flirtatiously, got up and squealed before Ian had a chance to reply.

"Ian Salvatore is taking me to the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant, can you believe it?!" The rest of the cheerleading squad congratulated her and told her how lucky she was, which pissed Ian off. He never said anything though, considering no one at the school had met his fancy yet and he wanted Scarlett to be happy. Of course, as a member of one of the towns founding families, he was expected to attend the Pageant, but he didn't want to be an escort and certainly not to Penelope Fell. Ian sighed in irritation and looked passed the flailing Penelope and the smug Scarlett, gazing at the blonde reject girl he'd thought about earlier.

_'You know what? I'm going to go talk to her, that'll teach Scarlett to pawn me off to the highest bidder like I'm the tastiest blood at the blood bank.' _He thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Damon was bouncing little Sam on his leg while searching the internet for a romantic getaway. It had been a long while since he and Elena had had a break from the kids, and Jenna and Alaric had offered to watch Sam while Ian and Stefani were at school while they were gone. Elena was in the kitchen making tacos for Damon's lunch, with some homemade sauce drizzled on it that consisted of blood and Texas Pete, and when she walked out with them Sam's arms shot up.

"Mommy!" Elena smiled and pulled her little boy into her arms, looking over Damon's shoulder at the computer.

"Oh Damon, Italy?" Damon grinned.

"Well baby, that is where my father immigrated from. Good ol' Giuseppe Salvatore, migrated to America just in time to help found Mystic Falls. Married a French settler named Mary, had an awesome son whom happens to love you very much, nine months later." Elena rolled her eyes and Damon chuckled, pulling her into his lap.

"And then the next time we go off somewhere we'll go to Paris." Elena beamed and pulled Damon into a kiss as best she could with a squirming two year old in her lap.

"That's so romantic." Damon nibbled at her neck playfully and was about to respond when they heard the front door open and slam. Ian grudgingly stomped through the house and Damon pulled back from Elena.

"Son, what's wrong?" Ian turned on his heels on his way up the stairs and his icy blue eyes were glazed over with tears.

"It's nothing you'd understand, Dad, just leave me alone." He grumbled, marching the rest of the way up the stairs and slamming his bedroom door. Elena flinched, knowing that if Ian had made a full transition yet the force would have snapped the door off its hinges. Elena gave Damon a knowing look, trying to soften the anger she saw manifesting in his eyes.

"Don't be angry with him, Damon, he's fifteen years old, he's a little hormonal. You remember how Jere was at that age." Damon sighed.

"Yes, and I hate to break it to you but your brother was a little dick back then." Elena rolled her eyes again.

"He's home two hours before he's supposed to be, something bad must have happened. Fix it." She demanded, pointing at the stairs. Damon kissed the top of her head and waited for her and Sam to get off of him before descending the staircase. He walked quietly up to his son's bedroom, which wasn't that far from his own, and listened at the door. He heard a loud thud followed by the creaking of bed springs and soft almost inaudible cries. When he knocked on the door, he received no answer, not even a "go away", which slightly worried Damon, though he wouldn't admit it. He opened the door to find a knuckle hole in the wall where Ian appeared to have punched it, and his son was laying on his bed, face first into his pillow. Angel, who was no longer a kitten but a fat lazy old cat, was gently nudging his face with her nose, in an attempt to comfort him herself. Damon's eyes fell on his son's hand, which was bruised and swollen from hitting the wall, but Stefan once. When Ian had been a baby Bonnie had made him a tiny one that Sam was now wearing, but Damon had saved Stefan's ring especially for Ian when he got older, since his first name also began with "S". Damon sat down on the edge of Ian's bed and cleared his throat.

"Sebastian." It had been a while since Damon had called him this, and it brought back a flood of memories of when Damon used to get mad at Elena for calling him what he now went by. He kind of liked and missed being called what his father had preferred, but never voiced it allowed. Ian sat up, but couldn't bear to look him in the eyes.

"Daddy…" Damon was largely taken back.

"Wow, that's something I haven't heard you call me in a long time." Ian shrugged.

"Well Sebastian is something you haven't called _me _in a long time." Now it was Damon's turn to shrug, feeling a little awkward.

"I miss it." Ian whispered softly. Damon smiled and ruffled his hair, another thing he hadn't done in a while.

"Me too, buddy." There was a long pause before he began speaking again.

"You going to tell me what's wrong or do I have to beat it out of you?" He joked, finally earning a small smile from his son.

"Scarlett is making me attend the Miss Mystic Pageant with Penelope Fell. Which isn't too big a deal I don't guess, but she didn't even ask me if it was okay, she just told me I was going with her. So, naturally, to get back at her I went to go sit with one of the unpopular girls to make her look bad right?" Damon tried so hard not so look proud, but failed and nodded for him to continue.

"I get over there, and the girl is the most beautiful thing I have even laid eyes on, looks like an angel. So, even though she's super unpopular I wanted to try and get to talk to her you know? I mean, she has this shimmering blond hair that falls to her hips and the most gorgeous blue eyes, I mean they are prettier than mine, Dad, and I'm the sexiest thing to ever grace that school. And then right there in front of her, when I'm trying to put my moves on and be all cool and shit, Scarlett marches right over there and exacts revenge by pouring hot soup on me. Then she told the girl she was a hideous freak and that if she ever touched what belonged to Penelope again that she'd make sure the entire school never talked to her again. And trust me, Dad, Scarlett has that power. She doesn't even need compulsion to do it either, she's just that popular." Damon's eyebrows rose and he sat there for a moment, drinking it all in.

"But Scarlett is such a sweet girl…" Ian sighed.

"She's sweet at home. She's sweet to the very core of her, we all know that. But Scarlett at school isn't the real Scarlett; it's a fake carbon copy of Caroline that she uses to get her way because I think she's insecure with men thanks to her daddy issues." He spat bitterly, and Damon fully understood but blanched a little bit at the thought of Stefan. He gently laid his hand on Ian's shoulder and shot him a very fatherly, loving glance.

"It's okay to like the unpopular girl, Bastian. I promise, Scarlett will get over herself eventually if you humiliate her in public enough, believe me, I've dealt with girls like that plenty in my lifetime. All you need to do is apologize to this girl on Scar's behalf and then play it as cool as possible until she falls for you." Ian, or Sebastian as he was now beginning to wish to be called, smiled up gratefully at his father.

"Thanks Dad, I guess you did kinda understand, huh? I mean after all, you did win over Mom." Damon snorted.

"Yeah, that wasn't as easy as it looks." Sebastian laughed and wrapped his arms around Damon, who in return pulled him into a bear hug.

"I love you, Kiddo." He smiled as Damon released him and Angel curled up in his lap.

"Love you too…Daddy."


	2. The Plantation

Damon walked from his son's room grinning, happy that they'd had that talk. It had been too long since they'd opened up to one another like that. Elena, who was still down near the computer, but who had been listening, was also grinning.

"That was sweet, Damon." He shrugged.

"Nah, what's gunna be sweet is when I walk down to Mikealson Manor and tear Scarlett a new one." Elena sighed.

"She's never been the same since…" She trailed off, not needing to finish that terrible sentence. Damon nodded and checked his watch.

"I'm going to go check her out early, she and I seriously need to have a heart to heart, and I don't want to show up on Klaus's doorstep…Vampire Barbie Bitch might be there." Damon started to head toward the door but he stopped, listening to Sam squeal as he ran through the house.

"Sammy, do you want to ride with Daddy in the car? We can listen to Hey Jude on the way there." Elena smiled gratefully at Damon, Sam had just learned how to run at vampire speed, which purebloods could do without transitioning, and Elena had been driving herself crazy all week trying to keep up with him. Neither Sebastian nor Stefani had learned to run like that until they were around seven, so Damon was immensely proud of his youngest, though he wasn't the one that put up with it. Sam came tottering towards his father at human speed, uttering "take a sad song and make it better" which were the only lyrics he had picked up on. Damon picked him up and kissed the top of his head, leaning in to kiss Elena goodbye and then walking out to his Camaro.

Meanwhile, Sebastian was upstairs on his bed still, gently nudging Angel off his lap so that he could get up to get something from underneath his bed. He pulled out a small black leather bound diary that looked brand new, and then another that had a little wear and tear and pages yellow from fifteen years of sitting in an untouched pile of Stefan's belongings. Sebastian had gotten awfully curious recently and snooped through his Uncle's bedroom, which had been left exactly the way it was when Stefan died. Sebastian looked from his daylight ring to both diaries and then sighed, opening the new one up and taking out a pen from his pocket.

_Dear Diary,_

_This is my first time ever doing anything like this, but I read Uncle Stefan's, and he claims that keeping a journal is a good way to remember the good memories and let out the frustration of the bad. Well, I need to let out the frustration of the bad. Scarlett has turned in to something that she isn't, and I don't think Uncle Stefan would be very proud if he could see her right now. I thought maybe if I took his diary and showed it to her, showed her the entries where he talked about her and how much he loved her, that she'd be able to get passed some of her issues. However, I am a little scared to because his entries about her aren't always happy. One entry he talked about how she was his sun, moon and stars, but then in another he went on to say that he wished she'd never been born. I think Stefan was just angry, especially since the entry after that explained that he didn't mean that, he just wished that she'd been born Elena's daughter and not Katherine's. My only memories of my Uncle were when he was either trying to steal Mom away from Dad, or hitting Aunt Katherine in anger. I think deep down Stefan wasn't such a bad man, he was just a dude that missed his opportunity with the love of his life, and snapped when he realized he'd always be living in his older brother's shadow. Note to self, never let Stefani or Sam feel that way. Ever. Not that I'm not happy that Dad got the girl, I am, having Stefan as my father instead would have royally sucked. All I'm saying is that I wish Dad had tried harder to make it up to Stefan, after all, I've heard stories of what had happened in 1864, and that coupled with loosing Mom must have destroyed Stefan and his and Dad's relationship. Anyway, I could hear Mom and Dad talking downstairs; Dad is going to go talk to Scarlett. Good, Dad is as gentle as they come except for when he's angry, and she needs to see that side of him. I should go; I need to find out that girl from lunch's name. If I can find her in the phone book I can apologize. Thanks for listening, Uncle Stefan was right._

_-Sebastian I. Salvatore, February 16__th__, 2025_

Sebastian closed his diary and contemplated what to do with Stefan's. He really should return it to his room, he supposed, but would it really be all that bad to show it to Scarlett? How would she take it? He didn't know, so he decided to take the diary and walk to Katherine's room and ask her, praying she wouldn't be angry that he had been in Stefan's room.

Back in the car, Damon was laughing uncontrollably as Sam butchered Hey Jude, only knowing the one sentence from before and making up his own little lyrics to the rest of it.

"Hey Jude, don't make Daddy sad, take a sad song and make it better. You better let Mommy in to your heart, then you will feel smart when she sends you a letter." Sam sang to his heart's content, nearly making Damon wreck a few times on the way.

"Sammy please, I can't even." Damon chuckled as he heard his child squeal "Remember, if you let her into your heart, she will let you pet her cat fur." Damon pulled in to the school parking lot, turning the radio and engine off, looking over his shoulder with a Cheshire Cat grin.

"Do you sing it that way because you mishear the words or because making it up is more fun?" Sam shrugged.

"Sounds better that way, Daddy. Yours and Mommy's love story is more fun." This made Damon snort, knowing that Sam liked it when he was dropped off at Alaric's house and at naptime Ric would tell him stories of how he and Elena had gotten together.

"You're precious." He muttered, unbuckling him from his car seat and walking through the double doors of the school.

Scarlett was walking in a pack with the other popular girls, Penelope Fell; Daughter of Meredith's brother, Minerva (Minnie) Lockwood; Daughter of Hayley and Tyler Lockwood, and Lily Forbes; Caroline's uncles' daughter, when they ran right in to Damon and Sam. Scarlett wasn't paying attention and was still jabbering about how Colt Donovan (adoptive son of Matt and Rebekah) was the hottest thing at this school and how she was angry that he was the only football player that refused to pay her attention.

"I mean seriously, Penelope, its looks terrible that the head freaking cheerleader, who should get anyone she wants, can't win over our star quarterback!" Penelope scrunched up her nose.

"But Scar, isn't that like…incest?" Scarlett rolled her eyes.

"No, weirdo, I'm not really related to Rebekah." It wasn't until then that the two noticed that the rest of the girls had fallen silent.

"Um…isn't that your uncle?" Minnie whispered, earning an irritated and curt nod from Damon.

"As a matter of fact I am, and I need to speak with her. Come on, Scarlett, I'm checking you out early." Damon, still mostly used to the way Scarlett acted at home, expected her to immediately follow, so when she crossed her arms and said no he was genuinely surprised.

"Excuse me?" Scarlett narrowed her bright green eyes in the same way her father used too and arrogantly tossed her curls over her shoulder.

"I said no, I haven't finished third period yet, and I have that class with Colt." Damon's face became slightly flushed and his lips curled back into a fine line, one eyebrow arched to a point.

"Okay, Little Miss Caroline Forbes, you have ten seconds to get your ass out of this school and into my car or I swear to you the result won't be pleasant." Scarlett's resolve had slightly weakened since she knew her uncle meant business, but she was not about to risk looking weak in front of her friends.

"See you after school, Damon." Scarlett quipped, using a classic Caroline bitch-face and attempting to brush passed her. Damon's eyes filled with a mixture of fury and hurt, not believing that she'd not only disobeyed him, but she'd called him Damon instead of Uncle Damon for the first time in her life. He looked at her friends and picked out the one that looked the most responsible, that was Lily, and handed Sam to her.

"That's it." He murmured, giving no warning as he picked her up and flung her over his shoulder.

"You, what's your name?" Lily's face turned beet red and she anxiously ran a hand through her straight blonde locks.

"Lily, Sir. Lily Forbes." Damon sighed irritably at the last name but motioned for her to follow him.

"Help me take my son to the car, Lily." She nodded and whispered to Minnie and Penelope that if she wasn't back in ten to call the police. Damon overheard and rolled his eyes, but was slightly pleased that the girls were scared of him. That meant that at least _somebody_ recognized his authority. They walked out to Damon's Camaro and Lily strapped Sam into his car seat, shooting a sympathetic glance at her friend before bolting back into the school. Damon forced Scarlett into the car and then revved the engine, speeding off toward the boarding house. Damon was quiet almost the entire way there, a dead giveaway that he was angry enough to kill. Normally with Scarlett, Damon would ask how her day was or compliment her outfit, or at least ask about her grades or sometimes when it was just the two of them he'd ask how she was feeling about Stefan and tell her about some good memories he had of him. But not now, now Damon was in "I'm so angry I could do something reckless" mode, and she knew it was best to just keep her mouth shut. They pulled up to the boarding house ten minutes later, it was a fifteen minute drive, but of course, reckless-mode Damon had been speeding. Scarlett undid her seatbelt and reached for the door handle when Damon finally spoke.

"Don't you dare move." Scarlett's hand fell and her heart froze at the sound in his voice, that tone had never once been directed at her. Damon got out of the car and helped Sam out, carrying him inside. Scarlett let the tears fall while she listened to Damon growl at Elena that he had some business to take care of and that he'd be back later. When he came back they pulled out of the driveway yet again and Scarlett for a moment thought he was taking her home, but he pulled off onto some dirt road and drove for a good twenty minutes before reaching a clearing that was full of ruins and rubble from what looked like it could have potentially been a pretty nice Victorian style house.

"Get out." Damon barked once they finally parked. Scarlett got out and wiped some of her tears from her face, looking around curiously at the unfamiliar place. When she looked back over at Damon, she noticed that he had been doing the same thing, just gazing at the ruins, but with a look of pure unadulterated sadness instead of wonder.

"Uncle Damon…I'm sorry." Damon's head suddenly snapped in her direction.

"Oh, so I'm _Uncle _Damon now, am I? Do you have any idea how big an idiot you made out of both of us in your little attempt to be cool? I can't even believe that was you back there, Scarlett Mary, you haven't been acting like the girl I helped raise, not for a long time, and I want to know why." Scarlett should have known this was what was coming.

"Can I just you one question before I give you my answer?" Damon didn't respond, which she took as an invitation to continue.

"Where have you taken us?" Damon bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, hot thick angry tears clouding his vision.

"The Salvatore Plantation. This is where your father and I grew up and where we met your mother…well, what's left of it anyway." Scarlett began to cry again and suddenly felt the need to reach out and comfort her uncle. '_So this was it…'_ Scarlett thought to herself. _'This was our home.'_


	3. Family Matters

Damon was once again staring blankly out at the ruins of the old plantation, unable to look his crying niece in the eyes that reminded him far too much of his brother.

"Your father used to ride Mezzanotte all over the plantation, especially when Father had upset him, which is when you'd find him down in wooded area just on the edge of Veritas. Father never followed him there, but I did on numerous occasions and found him reading and or crying. You have no idea how those tears made me hate Father." It was obvious by his words that he was addressing Scarlett, but his tone suggested that he was talking most amougnst himself and Scarlett tilted her head in confusion.

"Mezzanotte? Veritas?" Damon's face showed no signs of hearing her, he was still as a statue, as if lost in a time Scarlett would never get to see.

"Mezzanotte was his horse. The only thing Stefan loved more than his precious books and his Boys Academe was that damned horse. Veritas was the name of our plantation, or Estate if you will. Every plantation in the old south was named, haven't you ever read Gone with the Wind? The wooded area was more like a forest then; I wish you could have seen it. It leads to the old cemetery where your aunt's parents are buried if you follow Drowning Creek down to Wickery Bridge. Your grandparents are buried there too, or at least your Grandmother is. I'm not quite sure what Stefan did with Father's body." Scarlett blanched and looked down at her feet.

"Why are you telling me this? Why did you bring me here?" Damon sighed.

"I don't want you to forget your heritage, where you came from." Scarlett rolled her eyes.

"I know where I came from, Uncle Damon. I'm half Bulgarian, one fourth Italian and one fourth French." Damon gritted his teeth.

"That is not what I meant and you know it. I don't want you to forget where you were _supposed _to come from. Your mother was born in Bulgaria in 1473 and your father was born here in Mystic Falls, in 1847 on this very plantation. If you were from either of those eras I can grantee you that your attitude would be much different, and if it wasn't it would be beaten out of you by either Stefan or your husband. If Father could see you right now…dear God, I don't even want to know what he would do or say. He would have been far harder on you than Stefan or me, or Klaus for that matter. Maybe that's what you need. Starting now you are Miss Scarlett Salvatore, I will address you as such and you will address me as Uncle Damon and _only _Uncle Damon. Your mother will not be Mom or Mama, she will be Mother, and from now on you are to be home at precisely five o'clock each day unless given my consent to do otherwise, I will check up with Klaus. You will address your friends with the same respect I address you as, that would mean that Lily girl is now Miss Lily. And you stay away from that little blonde girl at school, you hear me? If you don't, Sebastian will tell me. Do I make myself clear?" Scarlett's mouth hung agape.

"B-But Uncle Damon…I'm going to sound like a freak addressing people as Miss and Sir…this isn't the nineteenth century!" Damon crossed his arms and shot her a look that let her know it wasn't up for discussion.

"Good. That is your punishment for your recent behavior, and if you don't abide by it the consequences will be immense." Damon's voice was icy and final and Scarlett's eyes welled with tears. An intense feeling bubbled up in her chest that she hadn't felt since some stupid freshman accidentally spilt milk on her new dress the first day of school. She glared at Damon in a way that screamed Katherine and her face turned pink.

"No wonder Dad was always trying to get away, he hated you and I hate you too! He told me about how Elena hated you too at first, you know, until you stole her from him and ruined his life? Go drop your daylight ring off Wickery Bridge, _Damon_." She screamed at him, not sure if she meant it or not. She didn't give him time to process this, running away at vampire speed and leaving him with a sinking feeling in his chest. Damon just stood there, unable to fully take in what she'd just said to him. Damon knew he needed to see Elena before he was no longer able to stop himself, but before he could do anything to get himself back home, a car blew a tire right near the clearing, almost as if on cue.

"It's been so many years…I'm sorry Elena." He mumbled to himself as he sped to the scene of the blow out, quickly ripping a small scared teenage girl from her car.

"What's your name?" The girl cried out and refused to look Damon in the face, terrified beyond belief.

"J-Jessica…" A few tears escaped from Damon's eyes and he gripped the girl by her hair and brought her neck to his protruding fangs in a flash.

"I hope you had a good life, Jessica. Forgive me." Damon was no longer in control, his vampire instincts completely taking over. This peal white fangs slid easily into her carotid artery and began to suck wildly, her thick scalding blood pouring down his throat. The girl must have had quite a bit of a fever, her blood being far warmer than the normal 98.6, and Damon could taste traces of Motrin. The warmness of the girl only reminded him of Scarlett, since she had the most unusual liking of boiling hot blood. This caused Damon to feed in an angrier manor, baring his teeth down as hard as he could and clenching the girl's wrists hard enough to break them. Her screams finally quieted and she went limp in Damon's arms, still alive but just enough to barley be considered comatose. This was the point at which Damon stopped, some of his conscience returning to him.

"Damn it…" He breathed, biting a chuck of his wrist open and raising it to the girl's lips.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, drink it, Sweetheart, you'll feel better." Unfortunately the girl was too far gone to hear him, and took her last breath in his arms.

Neither Damon nor Scarlett came home that night, and the next morning Elena and Klaus were frantically out searching for them. Both Sam and the Twins were sent off to go stay with Jeremy and Adriana and Katherine and Mason joined the search, leaving Sebastian to make sure he and Stefani made it to school on time. Sebastian had his permit, but he needed an adult in the car with him to be able to take the Camaro to school, so he just placed Stefani on his back, asked her to hold on, and then speed ran all the way to Mystic Middle. Thankfully no one saw, and he was able to get her into the building no problem, but it was with his own school that issues arose.

Police had surrounded the entire perimeter of the school, and the moment Sebastian arrived without a car, he was in deep shit. The only way you were being allowed on campus was when the police searched your car and allowed you to proceed, so naturally Sebastian trying to waltz into the school unnoticed was quickly halted. Sherriff Forbes had long skipped town after being turned, knowing that at her age it would raise suspicion that she wasn't getting increasing wrinkles and grey hair, so a new Sherriff had been appointed, one that everyone hated. Said Sherriff, whose name was Madison Bridgeford, narrowed her cold grey eyes and walked towards Sebastian.

"Where are your parents, Salvatore?" Sebastian gulped.

"Um, I came to school by myself this morning, Ma'am." Sherriff Bridgeford grabbed Sebastian by his arm and pulled him off to the side, away from the other cops and the commotion of oncoming cars.

"You mean to tell me that you got here by yourself without a vehicle?" Sebastian nodded.

"There is such a thing as walking to school." Sebastian retorted, giving her the same intimidating look that his Father often gave her at Founder's Council meetings.

"You live in the old Salvatore Boarding house fifteen minutes from here by car. There is no way you could have walked and gotten here on time, you're not even sweating. This was a mistake, let me tell you. I have suspected your parents of being monsters from the moment I joined the council and this could possibly be my proof. Your mother hasn't aged a day from seventeen to thirty two, your father is strangely handsome for a man of thirty nine, and a source has told me that there are hardly any groceries brought into your home, which is strange for a family of nine." Sebastian looked horrified.

"Wait until my father finds out you've had people keeping an eye on us. It won't end well for you, I promise." Sebastian sneered, only making Sherriff Bridgeford grin.

"Why? Because he'd eat me?" Sebastian's face heated up but he didn't really have much of a case, so he angrily spat "Just for your information, I've read the Gilbert journals, and vampires can't procreate. My mother gave birth to a son two years ago at the age of thirty, figure it out." He stormed towards the school and surprisingly, Sherriff Bridgeford let him go.

_'This is not good.' _Sebastian thought to himself. '_Mom and Dad are going to kill me. That is, if Dad ever comes home.' _

Once inside it was as if all hell had broke loose. Students were running around everywhere, gossiping to one another and having what appeared to be break downs. Some students were crying, some seemed frightened, and considering what had just happened outside with the police, Sebastian was sure that all of this was because something terrible had just happened.

He listened in a bit, trying to catch enough of people's conversations to know what was happening. He heard several of the cheerleaders crying "She was such a good friend" and a handful of nerds choking out "She was the only popular girl that was nice to me…now she's gone". _'So that's it,'_ He thought. '_Someone died….but who?' _He looked around to see who was missing, and it wasn't until he spotted Scarlett's group of friends that he knew who. He took a head count; He saw Lily, Minnie, Penelope, Sophia, Olivia, Ava, Emily, Abigail, Mia, Elizabeth, Chloe, Ella, Avery, Addison, and he even saw Scarlett herself, which made up the entire cheerleading squad.

Considering Scarlett hadn't been home and everyone was worried sick about her, Sebastian was ready to go give her a piece of his mind, but he decided he needed to know who was dead first. None of the cheerleaders had died, but it was a popular girl, which meant it had to be a prep, and the only two preps that mingled with the cheerleaders were Aubrey Bradley and Jessica Henderson, because they were both dating boys on the football team. He finally saw Aubrey's little ginger head nuzzled into her boyfriend Jayden, who was the school linebacker, and then it was clear. Jessica Henderson, one of the nicest preppy girls you could ever meet and the girlfriend to none other than Colt Donovan, was dead. Sebastian then overheard Aubrey wail something along the lines of "Can you believe she was attacked by an animal? What kind of animal tears your neck open?! It isn't right!" and it lit a fire deep within him. He stalked toward Scarlett and took her roughly by the shoulders.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Scarlett turned her tear stained face to look at him.

"I know, I know I should have come home, but I can't face Uncle Damon right now…or anybody, I was a horrible person last night." Sebastian glared daggers at her.

"You are _always _a horrible person, Scarlett. And that's actually not what I was referring too. I was talking about how you've had a crush on Colt Donovan since freshman year and now that you have transitioned into a full blown vampire, all of a sudden Jessica Henderson is dead!" Scarlett's mouth fell open.

"You think_ I_ did this? Jessica, believe it or not was my friend, Ian. Sure, I was terrible and tried on multiple occasions to break them up, but I would never kill her. And now that she's dead I have to live with the guilt that I hurt her so many times, so fuck you." In her anger, Scarlett pushed Sebastian back just hard enough to make him lose his balance and fall on whoever had been walking passed him. Before he knew it he was laying on someone's side and he could hear a female voice whimper "O-Ouch." He got up and immediately offered his hand.

"I'm so sorry, miss, let me help you up." Sebastian felt like the air had been knocked out of his lungs when he realized who he'd fallen on. It was the petite blonde angel he'd seen at lunch the day before. Her thin hand slipped into his and she allowed him to help her up, smiling shyly as her bright cerulean eyes met his equally blue ones.

"Thank you, Ian." Sebastian blushed and cleared his throat nervously.

"Call me Sebastian." Her faced seemed to light up and she extended her hand.

"O-Okay, Sebastian. I'm Poppy." Sebastian, trying to play it cool as his father had suggested, threw her his most dashing grin coupled with his "Smolder Eyes".

"Lovely to meet you, Poppy." He gently kissed the back of her hand and she turned redder and Aubrey's hair. Poppy was about to reply when she caught Scarlett glaring at her wildly over Sebastian's shoulder. He noticed her smile falter and followed her gaze over his shoulder at his cousin just in time to hear her mumble "I have to go, excuse me." Sebastian quickly turned to ask her to stay, but she was already gone.


	4. Murder At The Manor

Damon didn't come home until around 1:30 that day and Elena was furious. She marched straight toward him with the intent of screaming until she was blue in the face, that is, until she got a closer look at him. His eyes were filled with despair and his clothes were stained with blood. He was trembling, and Elena hadn't seen Damon look like this in a very long time.

"Damon, baby what happened?" Damon couldn't speak, he took one look into the deep brown eyes that he adored and he crumbled. A few stray tears ran down his cheeks and he slowly pulled Elena into his arms.

"I killed her, Elena." He finally whispered after several moments of silence. Elena ran her fingers through his hair and attempted to remain composed.

"Killed who?" He said nothing, but instead pulled himself reluctantly from her embrace and led her to the den. He turned on the TV to channel twelve and watched her facial expression darken as she observed the headlines scrolling across the news. There was a picture of Jessica, and Andie Star was sadly reporting that there had been an animal attack similar to the ones fifteen years ago when Vickie Donovan went missing.

"Damon, she was a senior at Mystic High…she went to school with our son!" Elena's voice was hysteric, and Damon turned a bitter expression towards her.

"Yeah, well you can thank our shit-brick of a niece for that." Elena gasped.

"Scarlett?! Damon, do you know where she is? She didn't come home last night either." Damon shrugged nonchalantly.

"My dear, I don't give a damn. This is all her fault." He tried to sound angry but all that was seeping from his voice was agony.

"What did she do to you?" Elena's voice was soft now, forgetting about Jessica and just focusing on the fact that her husband had had his feelings seriously hurt.

"Oh nothing besides the fact that she told me she hated me as much as Stefan had and that I should just go drop my daylight ring off Wickery Bridge." To most people that wouldn't have sounded bad enough to react the way Damon had, but Elena knew how easy it was to trigger the impulsive nature in Damon, and how easy it was to hurt him once he let you into his life and allowed himself to care for you. Her eyes filled with tears and it felt as if her heart had literally just broken for him.

"Oh Damon, she didn't mean that. Not Scarlett." Damon shook his head.

"You didn't see the look on her face. She said I ruined Stefan's life when I took you from him and I could see it in her eyes, Elena, she blames me for everything that happened to him. Maybe…maybe she's right. I killed my brother." Elena shook her head and ran into Damon's arms, hugging him as close to her as possible.

"Don't you ever say that again. You know that's not true, don't you listen to her! Caroline killed your brother because he was beating Scarlett, that had nothing to do with you, and you didn't steal me away, Damon, I left him for you because I love you. I'm here by my own choice, so if you killed Stefan, I killed Stefan." The two were quiet for a moment, just holding each other, trying to calm down by listening to the comforting sounds of each other's breathing.

"I love you. I swear, sometimes you're the only thing that keeps me sane." Elena nuzzled into him, not caring if some of the blood smeared onto her face.

"I love you too, it's okay. We will worry about telling Ian later, right now we need to take a bath." Damon's eyes regained a little of their playfulness and he cocked one of his eyebrows.

"Oh '_we'_ do, do we?" She nodded and took his hand, dragging him up the stairs. Once they made it to their bedroom she locked the door and went to the bathroom to run the water. Damon walked in behind her, gently running a hand up the back of her shirt while she was bent over filling up the tub. Her back arched and she moaned lightly, standing up and pressing him against the wall with her hands. Damon made no objection as she molded herself to him and roughly captured his lips, wasting no time unbuttoning his shirt while their tongues seemed to perform a ballet. She was surprised to see that his chest was caked in blood as well, as Damon was normally very neat with his prey, only further displaying just how upset Scarlett had made him. She paused only to turn the bath water off, and then resumed her place against his body, kissing his bare, blood-splattered chest. Her tongue traced and admired the perfectly chiseled abs while his fingers tangled in her hair in an attempt to be even closer. He unbuttoned his own pants and allowed her to jerk them down with his boxers, making him fully exposed to her. She dropped to her knees and took his already throbbing cock in her mouth, offering to Damon the sexual security blanket that always seemed to be his way of coping with difficult times. She sucked it all the way to the very back of her throat, scraping her teeth over the sensitive flesh and using her hands to play with his balls. Damon's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he moaned, grabbing fistfuls of her hair and attempting to fuck her mouth. She let him, trying to be the best for him that she could, although it slightly hurt. Damon seemed to notice after a while that she was wincing and he pulled out. He gently caressed the side of her face.

"You were going to let me do that as long as I wanted…weren't you? Even though it obviously brought you pain." It was less of a question and more of a fact spoken allowed, but sometimes Damon seriously couldn't believe that she was his.

"_Perfect._" He picked her up and gently laid her in the bathwater, getting in on top of her and gently biting into her neck. The flow of her blood into his mouth ignited their blood bond, and that combined with the sting of the hot water was almost enough to push him over the edge.

"Elena!"

Meanwhile, Western Civ was proving itself to be boring and both Sebastian and Scarlett seemed to have more on their minds than whether or not anybody expected the Spanish Inquisition. Mr. Aalders was getting ready to pair them off into groups to wake them up, since apparently the entire class had more on their mind than the Inquisition, and he ever so kindly paired Sebastian with Poppy. Sebastian grabbed his things a little grudgingly, plopping down beside her with a scowl. While he wanted to get to know this girl, he was still highly embarrassed by what had happened earlier that morning and he just wanted to curl up and die. However, Poppy seemed a little more comfortable than before and smiled at him.

"I-I'm sorry about earlier, it's just that your cousin kind of scares me. She has power over the entire school, you know." Sebastian turned red and refused to look at her.

"But I'd protect you." He mumbled it to himself, but she heard and blushed, quickly turning her face away from him.

"That's very sweet of you, Sebastian. Nobody likes me as it is, and with Scarlett seeming to hate me lately it's been worse, so the fact that a popular boy wants to…p-protect me is a bit of a foreign concept." He finally turned to look at her, her eyes filled with a deep sadness that he'd often noted his father having when talking about the period of his life before he met Elena.

"Listen to me, tomorrow you are sitting at the popular table with me. And if anyone says anything then…then I'll tell them that they have a choice to make. Either they will accept you at the popular table and get to know and be friends with the real you, or I am going to sit with you at your table everyday from then on and they can deal with loosing me as a friend. I'm tired of their bullshit anyway." Poppy's lips parted and she stared at him in awe, her pale nimble fingers nervously playing with a strand of the gorgeous platinum blonde hair that gently cascaded to her hips. Sebastian was just as nervous as she was, but he tried so hard to play it cool, once again replicating his father's Smolder Eyes and stifling a chuckle at the squeaking noise she made. He leaned in instinctively and her breath hitched in the back of her throat but she timidly leaned in a little too.

On the other side of the room Scarlett had unfortunately not been paired with Colt, but with Blake Cleery, who was the football team's runningback and Colt's best friend. Blake had been madly in love with Scarlett since kindergarten, but she never once paid him any attention, and now was not an exception. Or at least it wasn't until she noticed that Colt, who was sitting in front of them trying to hold back his tears, was looking at her for some reason. They locked eyes for a moment and she smiled her flirtiest smile, only to receive a roll of the eyes in return.

'_Oh hell no_' She thought to herself, indiscreetly flipping her glossy golden brown curls over her shoulder and looking up at Blake from underneath her eyelashes. Blake turned as red as his hair but grinned wolfishly at her.

"So um, Scarlett, I know I've asked you this a million times, but I've never seen you look at me like that before…so um, can we…I mean, have you changed your mind? About us?" Scarlett laughed obnoxiously and in a voice she was sure Colt could hear, she said "Oh Blake I thought you'd never ask, I'd love to be your girlfriend!" Blake's chocolate brown eyes widened and his face contorted into a look of pure joy.

"I knew Colt was wrong about giving up on you, I knew you were a girl worth fighting for." He said sweetly, not realizing that his words were like a knife in Scarlett's heart. This only pushed her further to make Colt jealous; she was not going to be talked about that way. She leaned in as seductively as possible and pulled him into a kiss by his varsity jacket. Both Blake and Scarlett were in pure heaven, only for different reasons. Scarlett opened one eye to see Colt's bitter expression, and it was as if she were living on cloud nine.

After school, Scarlett asked Blake (in front of Colt and the entire football team) to take her home. Scarlett didn't realize just how good a guy Blake was until he was making a stop at the Middle School.

"My mom works real late and my dad's a drunk, so I look after the little siblings. I've got my brother Ryleigh, whose a sixth grader here and then we have to pick up my baby sister Genevieve at daycare. I hope you don't mind." Scarlett's heart melted.

"Oh of course not, that's very sweet of you." Blake leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"Not as sweet as you. You have any siblings at the middle school you need to get? I could give you all a lift, baby girl." Scarlett thought that maybe she could get back in Damon's good graces if she picked up her cousins and half siblings, so she nodded.

"My uncle ran off and we don't know where he is, so we should pick up his daughter…and my mom and step dad are out looking for him so we should get my half-siblings as well, I guess." Blake grinned as wide as a Cheshire cat.

"I just knew it…I knew you were a sweetheart under that preppy cheerleader front." Scarlett smiled genuinely at him and giggled a bit, maybe this Blake guy wasn't half bad. Once Ryleigh, the twins, and Stefani piled into Blake's beat-up Nisan they headed for daycare and then the boarding house. Camden, Channing, and Stefani all ran into the boarding house, which Damon had left unlocked, and Blake just kind of sat there for a moment.

"So do you live here too, or am I taking you somewhere else?" She pondered it for a moment and then sighed.

"I'm not really welcome here right now…my fight with my uncle is the reason he's gone. So you should just take me home." Blake caught her off guard by gently pulling her into a kiss.

"It'll be okay, Scar. I promise. You and I…if things go smoothly from here on out, we can get out of this town after I make sure my little sister is in good hands, you know like when Ryleigh is my age, and we can run from all our problems. Start over, just the two of us." Scarlett smiled at him sadly and was on the verge of tears when she heard little Genevieve from the back seat squeal "That's so romantic!"

They pulled up at the Mikaelson Manor about thirty minutes later and Scarlett offered to take them inside.

"Would you like to stay awhile? Ryleigh and Genevieve are welcomed too; I have several family members living here with me that would be overjoyed to entertain them." In all honesty Scarlett just didn't want to be alone; she needed a shoulder to cry on after what happened to Jessica.

"Does that sound like fun to you guys? Playing hide and seek with Scarlett's family in this big old house?" Both Ryleigh and Genevieve nodded feverishly, eager to explore such an enormous house and Blake grinned, nodding lovingly at his girlfriend. When they walked in, Klaus, Caroline, and Elijah were all waiting anxiously at the door.

"Ah, I see you brought friends, love." Klaus said in an extremely strained voice. Blake immediately extended his hand.

"It's nice to meet you sir, I'm Blake, I assume you're her father?" Klaus took the boys hand and squeezed it hard.

"I am. What do you want with my little girl?" Scarlett glared at him but Blake smiled to assure her it was okay.

"I am her boyfriend, sir, but you don't have to worry. I promise to be a perfect gentleman and the moment she doesn't want me I'm gone, I swear." Klaus smiled curtly and nodded.

"Yes, well, do you mind if I speak to my daughter alone? Some family issues have recently arisen." Scarlett cocked her head to the side in confusion but smiled encouragingly at Blake.

"Go wait for me in my bedroom, last room on the left, my Uncle Elijah and Aunt Caroline will give your brother and sister a tour of the manor." Elijah and Caroline scowled at being volunteered for this but nodded and Blake headed for the staircase.

Blake seemed to wait forever, but eventually Scarlett walked into his room with tears rolling down her face. Not only had Klaus yelled at her for not coming home last night, but he told her that it was Damon who had killed Jessica. Scarlett's heartbeat was running wild and just needed something to make her forget, a distraction, she didn't want to feel this much guilt for pushing Damon or this much hatred towards herself that the person he killed because of her was someone she halfway liked.

"Oh no, Scar, what's wrong?" She shook her head.

"My uncle…the one that ran off? They found him dead this morning." She lied, unable tell him the truth for obvious reasons.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered. She got on the bed and pushed him onto his back.

"Distract me, please. Make it go away." She crushed her lips to his and began unzipping his jacket.

"Is this really what you want? We just started dating today…" She nodded.

"Please, I know it's soon but I need to be distracted, I know you know how that feels." Blake did know how that felt, and he'd loved Scarlett for so long that he wasn't able to put up anymore of a fight. He pulled her shirt off over her head and kissed around her bra, pulling back only when she ripped his shirt off. They kissed roughly and passionately, and he popped her bra off easily, taking one of her breasts into his mouth and sucking lightly.

"Oh god, Scarlett. Colt was so so very wrong, you're so amazing." Scarlett was caught between moaning and wanting to yell at him for bringing Colt up again. Blake began massaging Scarlett's clit through her pants and her senses went haywire. She was so hurt inside but her body felt so good, and her mind was getting mixed up. She could smell his blood more and more as it started pumping quicker through his veins and she could suddenly feel her canine teeth elongating. Blake's hand moved quicker and he recaptured her lips, making the mistake of thrusting his tongue in before she was ready and puncturing it on one of her fangs. One drop of his blood in her mouth was all it took. She used her vampire strength to push him away from her and against the wall on the other side of her bedroom. Before Blake could even ask how she was capable of that, she ran at him with inhuman speed, dark black veins under her eyes and the look of a predator manifested in them. It wasn't long before her fangs were plunged deep into his jugular and his screams began to fill the manor.


	5. Blood Bath

Damon and Elena had been out of the bath for a good thirty minutes and Damon was in the middle of booking him and Elena their trip to Italy when he got the call. Scarlett's voice was terrified and panicked, but at first Damon was in no mood to care.

"U-Uncle Damon I need you." Damon gritted his teeth and rolled his electric blue eyes.

"Must I reiterate what I said to Elena? Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." Damon's heart did not lurch, nor did it melt when he heard the broken sob crackle through the receiver. He was utterly and completely done with her for the time being, considering she had forced him to do something he hadn't done in several years, something he wasn't proud of.

"Uncle Damon p-please! I j-just killed this boy up in my bed room a-and he isn't just drained of blood, I lost control over my body. His head came off and before I knew it his limbs were in corners….I t-tried so hard to make it better but the pieces won't fit back on anymore! Help me!" Damon's blood ran cold and for a moment he couldn't believe that she was telling him the truth.

"You're lying…you've heard stories about Stefan's ripper days from Klaus, I'm sure. You just want me to feel sorry for you." Even as he said them the words in his mouth felt false and bitter.

"Heard about Daddy's what? I d-don't understand…please don't be mad, I didn't mean too!" In that moment every ounce of anger he held toward her dissipated and a sense of immense guilt overwhelmed him.

"Oh sweetheart no, Uncle Damon's coming, Scar, don't worry." He hung up and practically knocked his own door down, not bothering to tell Elena where he was going. He'd call her later, right now all that mattered was making sure his brother's little girl…his darling little niece that he'd cared for since the day she was born, was alright.

Damon was at Mikaelson Manor within ten seconds of the call and he kicked the front door in and ran to her bedroom without a moment's hesitation or warning. The scene before him when he opened that door was like something out of a bad scary movie. Scarlett was standing in the middle of the room weeping, her hair matted with blood and mascara running down her face. Damon blanched a little once realizing that she was wearing no shirt or bra, and the only thing covering her equally blood smeared breasts was her long brunette locks. He followed her terror-stricken gaze to the back of the room, seeing a mess that was ten times worse than anything he'd ever seen Stefan do. Not only was the boy's head and limbs detached from his body, but his insides had been torn out and chewed to pieces. His back was against the wall and his head was lying lopsidedly atop his severed neck, his arms were propped up against their former elbow sockets and his legs were placed in a way that suggested Scarlett had tried very hard to reattach them to the knee caps. In the boys lap laid all his organs, minus his liver, which was in tatters and hardly a liver at all from where she'd sucked the blood out of it.

"Scarlett…what the hell happened?" Her forest green eyes, with pupils blown wide from pure hunger and animal instinct, turned to him with an expression he recognized all too well. She had never looked more like Stefan in all her life, it was as if someone had sucked all the happy preppy excitement from her body and injected her eyes with her father's soulful and guilt-ridden gaze.

"He…I….um, I took him home to get back at Colt Donovan for rejecting me and…Klaus told me you killed Jessica and I flipped. I threw myself at Blake to take my mind off of it and while we were in the process of…what do you call it, foreplay? I just went psycho killer and the next thing I knew I was drenched in blood and crying my eyes out." Damon tried so hard to ignore Scarlett's comment about foreplay, though he couldn't resist uttering "Bastard deserved it…for touching my niece like that." Scarlett wanted to smile at that, but she couldn't find the proper motivation and her face remained blank.

"_I'm a monster_." She whispered. Damon absentmindedly pulled a band tee over her head and wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her gently.

"No, you aren't. There isn't a vampire on this planet that hasn't killed at least one person, minus my children for the simple fact that none of them have fangs yet. Eventually Sebastian, Stefani, and even Sam will be in this situation, you aren't alone. You know that your aunt and I and your mother and Klaus…we've all gone off the deep end and killed someone before, it happens. Granted it's never happened to any of us at quite this caliber, but you get the point."

"But why? Why did it have to happen to me this bad? Is it my punishment for being a bitch?" Damon's lips twitched as if he were about to smile at that, but he couldn't find it within himself to do so.

"Scarlett…you really are just like your father. That's why. Stefan was what we call a ripper, which is a sadistic vampire that enjoys mutilating their victims. Most vampires just go for the neck, take what they need and they're done, but rippers…rippers are addicted to the kill, addicted to blood to the point where it's almost like alcoholism. Stefan never would let me help him learn to control it, learn to drink in moderation. Instead he listened to all the bullshit theories that Lexi put into his head and he abstained from human blood completely, making him go nuts the minute he tasted one drop of it. I'm not going to let that happen to you, though, okay? Just because I failed Stefan doesn't mean I have to fail you." Damon was giving her one of the most genuine and sincere looks that she'd ever seen him give, and it warmed her. She smiled at him and nuzzled into his chest.

"Thank you…and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything. I didn't mean it." Damon smiled back and gently petted her golden curls.

"Its okay, Scarlett. I'm sorry too, I know you didn't mean it, I shouldn't have been so hard on you." They stayed like that for a few moments before Scarlett finally whispered what had been on her mind for a very long time, but she'd been afraid to admit it.

"I wish I was your daughter…things would be so much easier, and you and Aunt Elena would have truly loved me." Damon's eyes glazed over.

"Would have? We do love you. Always have, always will. Your mother loves you too, you know. You absolutely broke her heart when you left." Scarlett shrugged.

"I belong here, Uncle Damon. I have a bond with Klaus that you could never understand…that year that Daddy and I were with him he…he was my rock. And besides…I can't stand Mason Lockwood. Is it true, what I've heard? Minnie says him and Mother are getting married." Damon sighed.

"Yes, it's true. Don't worry; you aren't the only person bitter about it. She always told Stefan she never wanted to get married and here she is marrying that mutt…and with a Lockwood wedding that means I have to put up with…_Tyler_." Damon spat the name with an amount of hatred that it made Scarlett shiver.

"Minnie's daddy? What's wrong with him?" Before Damon would answer they heard a familiar, heavily accented voice at the door.

"What's wrong with Tyler Lockwood, you ask? How about that Tyler Lockwood is a dim-witted arrogant mongrel that takes every opportunity possible to steal your Aunt Caroline from me." Klaus snapped as we walked into the room.

"Love triangles suck…" Scarlett murmured, trying to lighten the mood.

"Indeed. Well, I have heard terrified cries and screams all throughout the manor this evening and I come up here to find my half naked daughter snuggling into your arms, Salvatore, so explain." Damon's eyes narrowed and he glowered at the hybrid.

"Don't you ever call her your daughter in my presence ever again. I came here because she needed me after going the worst case of ripper I have ever seen, on a boy you were carelessly letting molest her." Klaus turned red and a feral growl escaped his throat.

"What are you implying?" Damon didn't answer, as there was a gasp and a shriek heard from the doorway. Sebastian was standing with his mouth wide open and Poppy fainted into his arms.

"Scarlett no…no! You didn't…do you realize what you've done?! You didn't just kill Blake Cleery, best friend of Colt Donovan and the best runningback Mystic Falls High has ever seen, no, you killed Blake Cleery, the only chance either of his siblings have at survival! This is low Scarlett, even for you!" Scarlett's lips quivered and Damon sighed in exasperation.

"Shut your cake-hole, Sebastian Ian, you don't know what you're talking about." He paused for a moment before adding "Is that your little blonde angel? She's lovely, son, she really is, but did you not prepare her for the whole vampire thing?" Sebastian glared at his father.

"Yes dad, this is Poppy, and no…I was keeping it a secret until I was sure it would work…not that it matters now! I brought her over here to show her Scarlett wasn't so bad away from school, but that kinda went down the toilet now that she's seen a friggin massacre!" He dug into his coat pocket for a moment and pulled something out.

"I also came to bring her this." In Sebastian's hand was Stefan's tattered leather-bound diary.

"Aunt Katherine said she could have it." Scarlett broke in that moment. She just broke. She ran from the room in vampire speed and was out of the house and headed toward Minnie's in under ten seconds flat.

Back at the Boarding House, Elena had been called by Minnie confirming that Scarlett had climbed through her window unnoticed and was now safe and sound taking a bath at her house. Damon and Sebastian walked in carrying a still unconscious Poppy and Ryleigh and Genevieve were trailing behind them.

"Oh, I didn't know we were expecting company, I'd have cleaned…" Elena trailed off, speechless at the look on her husband's face.

"Bastian, take Poppy upstairs to your room and put her to bed. Then I want you to take Ryleigh and Genevieve to the twins' room to play, understand?" Sebastian nodded and descended the staircase, the two younger children following obediently and confusedly behind him.

"Damon what's…" Damon cut her off impatiently.

"Scarlett's a ripper. She's worse than Stefan, and before his death he was the worst most infamous ripper to ever grace this Earth. It's bad. Sebastian's girlfriend saw and fainted…and the two kids are the dude she ate's siblings. Their mom is struggling to get by and their dad is a dead-beat. I don't know what to do with them Elena, their older brother was the only person around to take care of them. Klaus dragged the poor guy's body underneath Wickery Bridge and Elijah and Caroline are busy trying to clean Scar's room of all the blood." Elena looked horrified, choking back her tears to speak.

"Well, I guess the only thing to do is wait until her room is spotless and then call the kids mom and tell her we found them wandering the street alone. Then we will compel the kids into believing the story as well, and just in case the mom can't care for them alone I will look for a family member or friend willing to adopt them so they won't have to go into foster care, okay?" Damon took some deep breaths and nodded.

"Alaric is the adoption king these days; give him a call first, would you? I know he'd take good care of them." Elena gently pecked Damon's lips and nodded, beginning to search for her cell phone.

At Minnie's house, she was desperately knocking on her bathroom door.

"Scarlett, I know you're scared, but judging from that amount of blood on your body you're either a serial killer or a vampire, and I guarantee you I know which." Scarlett grabbed a towel and slowly opened the door.

"How do you know what I am?" Minnie just smiled as if she had just found the one person she could confide in about everything.

"Because I'm a werewolf, silly." Scarlett's mouth dropped open.

"You triggered your curse?"


	6. Growing Pains

Minnie frowned slightly and looked down at her feet.

"Well, no. But my parents have talked to me about it, and I know that I carry the werewolf gene. They don't like to talk to or about your family at all, and I know that vampires are supposed to be our mortal enemies, so when I saw all the blood on you I just put two and two together. It's okay though, I won't stop being your friend just because you're a bloodsucker." Minnie attempted to joke, but Scarlett didn't laugh.

"I'm actually a vampire/werewolf hybrid, so we have more in common than you think." Before Minnie could answer Scarlett suddenly gasped.

"That means that I just triggered my own curse…I should be able to shift at will now!" The excitement that flowed through Scarlett seemed to be contagious and Minnie squealed.

"That's so cool! Oh Scarlett please, please shift! I want to see!" Scarlett rolled her eyes.

"Minnie, your parents can shift, why don't you just ask them?" The darker haired girl folded her arms in a pout.

"Only my father can shift at will, since he is a vampire/werewolf hybrid like you are. My mother has to be locked in a cellar each full moon, she can't control it. Dad won't let me watch mom phase, and he never phases at all unless he has too, and if he does have too I'm never around to see it. They are so overprotective." Scarlett snorted.

"You're lucky. I was overexposed to vampirism as a child, no one ever sheltered me from what I was, and I was taught to drink straight from the vein like a normal vampire and avoid the animal alternative that my father had chosen. Maybe that's part of the reason someone is dead because of me now." Minnie walked over and pulled Scarlett into a hug.

"It's alright, Scar. You and I have been besties since like, kindergarten. You, me, Lily, and Penelope, we were all best friends. Only now, the difference between us and them is that we don't have secrets between each other anymore, so now we can be each other's closest friends, isn't that awesome? If you need to talk about it, let it all out, we can do that now." Scarlett analyzed her friends lonely face and realized that Minnie didn't get to confide in a lot of people, just like her, and that somehow really did make them closer.

"Well, I wanted to make Colt jealous so I took Blake home and some stuff happened…" They had a two hour long conversation about Scarlett's new status as a ripper and what all that meant. Scarlett cried on Minnie's shoulder, and the two of them fantasized about how awesome it would be to run the streets as wolves together. Eventually, the two were bouncing on her bed and slapping each other with pillows, forgetting their supernatural powers and taking a little bit to just be teenage girls, which was something Scarlett desperately needed. However the girls' laughter had floated down the stairs and to Tyler's sharp ears, who was soon banging on the door.

"Minerva Mary-Jane Lockwood, who's in there?! Unlock this door right now!" Tyler's enormous voice echoed through the room and Scarlett suddenly thought of Damon and Klaus's dislike for him. Minnie quickly went to open her door and a tall beefy man stood in the doorway, he had jet black hair and brown eyes like Minnie's but his face was red as a beet and anger shone brightly in his eyes.

"What the hell are you doing with a Salvatore in the house? Do you have any idea of the trouble you're getting yourself into?! Sheriff Bridgeford is onto them and our family doesn't need to have suspicion raised about us too!" Scarlett's eyes narrowed and her face became cold and calculating.

"What do you mean, Sherriff Bridgeford is on to us? What do you know that my family is unaware of?" Tyler stormed into the room and glared daggers at both teenage girls.

"I'll tell you what. Your stupid cousin got caught going to school without a car, perfectly on time and not a drop of sweat on him. The Sherriff has suspected your family for months after finding out the ages of your parents, and Sebastian's little speed running to school stunt was the final nail in your family's coffin. Lucky for us, the council is blissfully unaware of the werewolf population and is convinced that Hayley and I are paying for anti-aging injections every month. As for you, I'd high-tale it out of town before I was shot with wooden bullets. You've been warned. And you," He said turning to his daughter.

"You are grounded. I have told you to stay out of supernatural affairs; I don't want you in any of this mess. You are going to live a normal human life and that's the end of it, do I make myself clear?" Minnie hung her head and nervously picked at a bug bite on her arm.

"Yes Father." Tyler turned on his heels and added "And stop picking at your arm, the last thing I need is for you to be bleeding in front of a leech." Scarlett glared at him as he walked away, murmuring "Damn hypocrite." She turned to Minnie and sighed.

"I'm sorry that I got you in trouble, I guess I'll go home now." Minnie grabbed Scarlett's arm and looked up at her with pleading eyes.

"No. Scarlett, I know you know what it's like to feel like you don't belong somewhere, we just spent all night talking about it. I want to be in a place where the supernatural are accepted…I want to be able to accept the supernatural part of _myself_. Please, take me to Klaus. You're house is huge, I've seen it…there is room for me." Scarlett was in shock for a moment, looking for any trace of a joke on her friends face. There was none.

"Minnie…you don't want this life. I killed Blake Cleery, my uncle killed Jessica Henderson, there is no telling who you would get a hold of, who you'd have to feel guilt over. Besides, think about it. You have the biggest crush in the world on Penelope's brother Leland. Leland is human, if you trigger your werewolf curse you get the job of watching him grow old and die while you stay young and beautiful, is that what you want? And you heard your father, there is a big wanted sign looming over my family's head, which means we might have to leave town." Scarlett's voice was harsh and tears filled Minnie's eyes, but her resolve didn't crumble.

"Exactly. If you leave I'm going with you, I'm not letting the only person who understands me skip town and leave me with my secretive and detached parents. Either you take me as a werewolf or you take me as a vampire, but I'm not staying here. Penelope and Leland can come with us too; they're our friends and deserve to know the truth about us. And Lily and her siblings also." Scarlett rolled her eyes.

"You're so naive. We can't just up and take all of friggin Mystic Falls! My family consists of my mother, step-dad, their twins, my aunt and uncle, Ian and his siblings, Klaus and his wife, his brother Elijah, The Saltzman's, and then Colt's family. It's already going to look odd when not only the Salvatore's, but the Mikaelson's, the Donovan's, and the Saltzman's all move at the same time. But it will look even weirder if the Lockwood's, Fell's, and Forbes's move too, that's all the founding families moving out of the town they founded!" Minnie pouted again and then stamped her foot.

"Fine! We'll leave them behind, but please, please don't leave me here." Scarlett sighed.

"Okay, I'll take you to Klaus, and whatever he says goes from there on out okay? That means if he sends you home you go home, do you understand?" Minnie nodded and flung her arms around Scarlett.

"Thank you!"

Meanwhile, back at the boarding house Elena was having a very morbid phone conversation with Mrs. Cleery. Damon had already compelled the kids into believing that he and Elena had found them wondering around near Drowning Creek and that Blake was nowhere to be found. Damon overheard Elena tell the woman that they had already notified the police and that they were out looking for her eldest son. Elena looked at Damon a moment later and mouthed "she said there was another call beeping in from the police station." Damon raised his eyebrows.

"Well, they found the body awfully fast. I guess the current wasn't strong enough to take the pieces farther than the middle of the river." Elena shrugged and then went into full on comfort mode when Blake's mom returned to the line hysterically. Sebastian came walking down the stairs and sat beside his father on the couch.

"Are the kids going to be taken care of?" Damon sighed.

"Your Grandpa Ric said he would adopt them if Mr. and Mrs. Cleery are unable to take care of them. Your mother is finding that out right now. How is Poppy?" Sebastian shrugged.

"Fine I guess, she's still passed out but she's breathing. I tucked her into my bed and left a light on for her so she isn't scared when she wakes up in a house full of vampires with all the lights off. There is a damp cloth on her forehead and I left my daylight ring on the nightstand so she'd know where she was." Damon grinned at his son.

"You really do like this girl, don't you?" Sebastian turned pink, but he nodded.

"Yeah but I doubt that she's gunna want to be with a vampire." Damon chuckled and ruffled Sebastian's hair.

"Stranger things have happened; your mother was human when she met me. That certainly never got in our way." Sebastian was about to retort when Elena walked into the living room with an exasperated expression.

"Mrs. Cleery confided in me that her husband beats the kids, and that the only reason Ryleigh and Genevieve had ever been safe was because Blake protected them. She asked me to bring them by the house so she could say goodbye and then for me to find them a better home. She also asked that the kids not attend the funeral and that instead of being told the truth that they are told Blake went to join the peace core like he'd always dreamed of doing and that their parents went with him." Sebastian was suddenly very uncomfortable.

"And what do the police think happened to Blake?" His tone was so nervous that it caused Elena to narrow her eyes and put her hands on her hips.

"They think it was a mountain lion…why are you suddenly so concerned about the police?" Sebastian squirmed a little and couldn't look either of his parents in the eyes.

"Sherriff Bridgeford told me she was on to us because you two don't look like you've aged and the morning you were out looking for dad she caught me at school without a car, and when I told her I'd walked she noticed I wasn't sweating and said there was no way I could have made it on time…" Damon's face went rigid.

"Why the hell didn't you catch a ride with someone?! I can't believe you had the nerve to put us all in danger by running there!" Elena shot Damon a knowing glace.

"Damon, calm down. This was bound to happen eventually, it's not his fault. We all knew we couldn't stay in Mystic Falls forever." Suddenly they all heard a very timid voice come from the bottom of the steps.

"Did you know that the Fell family founded another town at the other end of the state back in the renaissance? There was supposedly an enormous vampire problem rising several hundred years later so the family relocated at the start of the civil war and helped found Mystic Falls. I grew up there, I only moved here last summer. I think, maybe if you have to leave Mystic Falls, you'd find a good home there, and I could show you around the town." It was Poppy, and she was gingerly holding Sebastian's daylight ring. He quickly stood.

"Poppy, I am so sorry that you had to see that earlier, it must have traumatized you. I want you to know that I understand if you no longer wish to see me…" Poppy only smiled and walked toward him, handing him his ring and very lightly pecking his lips.

"It's okay, Sebastian. While I'm slightly terrified that all the vampire legends I grew up hearing in Fell's Church are true, I know how much of a gentleman you are, and I know you'd never hurt me." Damon cocked his head to the side.

"Fell's Church, that's the name of the town?" Poppy nodded.

"People still talk about the legends, but there haven't been any vampire problems in years, you'd be safe there if you play your cards right." Damon smirked.

"I like you. Why'd you move? My son seems quite smitten by you so if you didn't leave for a terrible reason why don't you come with us?" It was clear that Damon was only trying to help his son, but Sebastian just wanted to die of embarrassment.

"Dad!" Damon looked genuinely confused.

"What?" Poppy giggled and turned a very deep pink.

"T-thank you for the offer, Mr. Salvatore, but I left because I was seriously bullied. I've never had much luck with other teenagers." Sebastian grimaced.

"I could compel them to leave you alone you know…you could still come back with us." Poppy smiled.

"Do you really think my parents would want to move all the way back again? Especially since I have a two year old little sister who hates moving." Sebastian was becoming desperate.

"I can compel them too." Poppy's smile grew and she giggled again.

"You're a sweetheart, you know that? How about…I say maybe and then make you take me out on a date?" Sebastian nearly exploded with happiness.

"Y-Yes, of course, it would be an honor." He said, kissing the back of her hand the same way he had when he'd first introduced himself to her. Damon looked over at Elena and mouthed "He's growing up" and Elena beamed and nodded, trying to hold back proud and happy tears.


	7. Date Nights with Damon

Chapter Seven  
Sebastian Salvatore was scared. He was two months away from making the final transition into a true vampire, his cousin had just found out she was a ripper, and now the Founders Council was suspicious of his family. But out of all of that, nothing scared him more than Poppy Maxwell—the mortal girl he'd fallen madly in love with. She'd proposed that he take her on a date before she decided whether or not she wanted to move with him if it came to that, and therefore this date was hugely important.  
Damon watched his son from his doorway and chuckled, realizing that no matter how hard Sebastian tried, he would never have Damon's cool and collectiveness in a time of worry.  
You try so hard to be me, Bastian, but in reality you're just like your mother.  
He thought to himself as his child continued to rush around in a panic.  
"Sebastian, calm down." Sebastian stiffened as he heard his fathers voice and turned to face him, sucking his meltdown deep inside of himself and throwing up his fathers cold outer exterior.  
"I'm fine, Dad. Get out of here, I have to make sure I look impeccable for my lady." Damon snorted and rolled his eyes.  
"Wrong answer, you know. I would have said that I have to freshen the impeccable, as there is never a time when all this," he gestured to himself "isn't flawless. I'm the eternal stud, you know, you can ask your mom." He said with a wink. Sebastian gagged.  
"Um, I'd rather not. Thanks." His response only egged Damon on.  
"Elena, Princess, Bastian wants to hear about how sexy you think I am, you got a minute? He's trying to recreate it for that Polly girl." Sebastian gritted his teeth and shot Damon an ice cold glare.  
"Her name is Poppy." Elena walked in and wrapped her arms around her husband.  
"Babe, leave him alone would you? You're riling him up before his big date." Damon's eyes warmed into a liquid azure and he smiled lovingly at his son.  
"He knows I'm playing with him." He walked over and ruffled his sons hair and kissed the top of his head.  
"Have fun tonight, treat her like a princess, and don't keep her out too late, okay?" No matter how old he got, Damon would always treat him this way, as he loved his kids more than anything. Sebastian couldn't help but smile, his irritation fading as he pulled his dad into a hug.  
"I promise." When his parents were gone, he resumed his rather frantic search for the perfect outfit. He plopped down in his computer chair, about to give up, when he noticed that his father must have stuck a note to it when he'd been in here earlier.  
Son,  
I know it would be embarrassing for your mom or sister to see, so I'm going to keep them occupied in the living room and I want you to go to my bedroom. Get my favorite leather jacket—you know the one, and my favorite John Varvatos shirt. It's my lucky shirt, but you'll need to pin it together because all the buttons are missing. Please don't ask why.  
-Dad  
P.S. You have reservations at 2941 Restaurant, where I took your mother on our first date. It's expensive, so ask me for money when you leave, I guarantee you don't have that much to your name.  
Sebastian grinned and shook his head. His father was awesome! He tugged on some dark wash jeans and ran to his parents bedroom.  
Once there he immediately found the jacket, which was hanging on the bedpost on his Dad's side, but the shirt would require some digging in his parents closet, which he was a little apprehensive about. He sifted through the mix of Elena's tank tops and dresses and Damon's never ending row of black button-downs until he finally came across a button-less one that looked as if the popping of said buttons had been deliberate. It made him cringe a little to think about what purpose that had served, so he didn't think about it and just slipped it on. He found some safety pins and carefully clipped the shirt together in a away that made it look like the shirt was simply sewn that way and then put his dads jacket on over top it. When he emerged into the living room both Elena and Stefani gasped.  
"Oh Ian, you look so handsome!" She cooed, pulling him against her and squeezing him. When Elena released him Damon shot him a lopsided smile.  
"Hello my shadow self." He teased, his heart warming as Sebastian mouthed a "thank you" to him. He checked his watch and headed for the door.  
"Dad…could I um, have some money?" Damon nodded and pulled out three one hundred dollar bills, not really caring that it was too much. He figured Sebastian would take Poppy for ice cream afterwards or something, his son was a cheese-ball like Stefan had been.  
Once he was gone Elena smacked Damon playfully on the arm.  
"Did you seriously send him wearing the shirt he was conceived in?!" Damon shot her his smolder eyes and leaned in close to her face.  
"It's my lucky shirt, he needed it, you should have seen him pacing in his room." She giggled and connected their lips for a split second before a second thought pulled her away.  
"Is he…driving the car he was conceived on?" Damon looked at her like she was crazy.  
"Are you kidding me? Hell no, I know my son and I am not letting him drive my car! I let him drive Stefan's old Porsche, it has been sitting in the driveway untouched since he died, it's not like he's using it anymore." Elena shrugged and nodded, it was true. She had often wondered why they hadn't sold it, but she guessed now it could be given to Sebastian since he had his license.  
"That night on the hood of your car was one of the best nights of my life." Damon laughed and kissed her again.  
"I enjoyed every night we made a baby together, but my favorite by far was when Sam was made." He snickered as he watched a bright blush creep up her face at the memory. Elena had gotten pregnant the last time two years prior at Scarlett's eighth grade football game when she'd first started cheerleading, behind the bleachers in the gym where no one could see them. Elena chortled.  
"That one was your favorite because it was the naughtiest." Damon growled suggestively at her.  
"Maybe."  
Meanwhile, Sebastian was driving to pick up Poppy, trying to air out the musty smell in Stefan's car by rolling all the windows down. It had been way too long since someone had driven this thing. He tried to turn it to a romantic station but the damned thing wouldn't go passed the Spanish station and he had to settle for ¡Corre! By Jesse y Joy, although from what Spanish he'd picked up on he knew this was a very sad song. He pulled up into her driveway and knocked on her door almost timidly. When she opened the door his breath was knocked out of him.  
"H-Hi." He stuttered, admiring how she looked in the dimness of her porch light. She was wearing a romantic floor length pink A line Sweetheart Chiffon dress with a sweep train, and it hugged her curves in all the right places. Her hair was the best part, it was pulled into a curly bun on the right side and looked soft as a golden cloud. Sebastian was about to compliment her when his vampire hearing picked up on a faint crying and some yelling from within the house.  
"Y-You look…um, is everything okay? I hear a woman crying…" Poppy quickly shut the door behind her and nodded adamantly.  
"My mother probably, she just…she stubbed her toe or something I'm sure." Sebastian wasn't convinced of that at all, but he let it go and extended his arm for her to take.  
"You look breathtaking." She seemed to make his favorite squeaking noise, though she'd obviously tried to conceal it, and he shot her The Smolder. He opened the door for her and then revved the engine, trying to impress her with his Uncles car. He was kind of hoping she'd think his parents bought him this after getting his license, he wanted her to think he was cool so bad.  
"I um, apologize for the Spanish, the radio dial is kind of stuck." He said as they pulled out onto the highway. Poppy giggled.  
"That's okay, I actually love ¡Corre!, I have at least one favorite song for like three different languages, I think language is a beautiful thing." When Sebastian had been younger Stefan and Damon both had actually tried to teach him several different languages, because apparently vampires had to adapt quickly to moving to new places, so this naturally intrigued him.  
"What are they? I speak a little bit of everything just about." Poppy looked genuinely excited.  
"Really? Even Italian?" Sebastian chuckled.  
"Especially Italian." Poppy flushed and tried to hide how much that pleased her.  
"Well, my favorite Spanish song is ¡Corre!, my favorite French song is Pour Que Tu M'aimes Encore by Celine Dion, and my favorite Italian song is Con Il Tuo Nome by Ivana Spagna." Sebastian was quiet for a few moments, letting all of that sink in before remembering what he'd heard at her house.  
"Those are all quite sad. You're into foreign sad songs?" He was trying to make sense of it all but was drawing blanks. Poppy simply shrugged.  
"I like any sad songs. Sad songs reflect the soul, don't you think? As for them being foreign, I just really want to travel. See the world, get away from it all. Especially to Italy." She said with a grin, causing Sebastian to be unable to do anything but smile back. Tonight it didn't matter, whatever she was going through he would figure it out and he swore to himself he would help her, but tonight everything had to be perfect. They pulled up to the restaurant and he got out to open her door.  
"Consentitemi di fare la vostra anima riflettono una lieta canzone." He whispered hotly in her ear as he offered her his hand. She looked as if she were about to faint, but she took his hand and allowed him to usher her into the restaurant.  
"Oh my God, Sebastian…" She whispered as she was over come by the intense smell of lilac and the gorgeous oil paintings on the walls.  
"Do you like it? My father took my mother here on their first date. This is what started it all…" He trailed off with a sentimental smile, he'd always looked up to the love his parents held for one another.  
"I love it." Sebastian could have sworn her eyes were saying "And I love you too" but he shook that thought from his mind. It was much to soon for any of that wasn't it? But that didn't mean he couldn't pretend that she was the Elena in this romance, and he was the Damon.


End file.
